Accel to double down on investment in SEA

Global VC firm Accel will double down on investment in Southeast Asia within the next two to three years, two of its India partners told Tech in Asia.

Team Accel/ Photo credit: Accel

Accel has made around 10 investments in Southeast Asian growth- and late-stage startups in the past two to three years. Its portfolio already includes regional firms like Pluang, Xendit, Sky Mavis (the parent firm of Axie Infinity), Nansen, and Astro.

“While India kept us busy in the last decade, the focus is going to be on both India and Southeast Asia now. We expect both the economies to grow to a significant size,” Prayank Swaroop, partner at Accel India, told Tech in Asia.

Accel recently announced a US$650 million fund to invest in startups in India and Southeast Asia that are in the pre-seed to growth stages. The investment in Southeast Asian startups will be conducted via this fund.

For Southeast Asia, Accel will focus on ecommerce, SaaS, fintech, crypto, and Web3. It is currently in talks with startups in the edtech, crypto, and logistics spaces for potential investments.

“As we go deeper into the geography and identify local trends, we will invest across those [other sectors] too,” Prashanth Prakash, partner at Accel India, told Tech in Asia.

In order to fast-track this, the firm is hiring locally to set up a team of at least three people dedicated to the Southeast Asia region. The team will be based out of Singapore.

So far, Accel has spent more time in the larger geographies of Singapore and Indonesia. Going forward, it will also focus on the Philippines and Vietnam, said Prakash.

Atoms for Southeast Asia

Accel has also opened Atoms, its pre-seed funding program for Southeast Asian startups. Atoms was only open to Indian startups until now. As part of the program, the startups receive US$250,000 in non-dilutive capital, one-on-one mentorship from established entrepreneurs and business leaders, as well as access to Accel’s global community.

The new cohort is likely to be announced in April. Accel had shortlisted 14 Indian startups for the previous cohort, which took part in the 100-day program in early March.

Accel has backed four out of 47 unicorns in Southeast Asia and 15 of India’s 80 unicorns. It currently holds over 35 soonicorns in its portfolio. The VC firm said it has invested a total of over US$2 billion into India’s and Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystems.